LB3

USA 3c Red Star Die uncancelled and no postmark. Addressed to Messers Spain & Richardson, Sumter SC. Receiving docketing at left "John C. Rhame" which identifies the sender. The original letter remains with the cover which is a business letter in which the addressee is mentioned and is signed by "J. C. Rhame" which matches the name of the docketing. The letter is datelined "Lynchburg Feby 20th 1861." That would put the cover in the USA Used in CSA South Carolina period. Lynchburg SC is very near Sumter in the same county. What this looks like is that the cover with letter was handcarried the short distance from Lynchburg to Sumter and dropped at the Sumter post office. The Sumter postmaster did not use a postmark on drop letters. Since the Star Die overpaid the drop letter rate, it looks as though he just neglected to cancel it as well. That is speculation but still a plausible explanation as it seems unreasonable to think someone would use a Star Die for a completely handcarried use and waste the postage. A very clean and very interesting cover with letter which bears further research. Ex-Baum Collection. Colonel John C. Rhame(s) (1806-1870) of Lynchburg, the letter writer, was a prominent county official in the Sumter District of South Carolina and a former sheriff of the Sumter District in 1852.  He was a Colonel pre-war in the South Carolina Militia. The Federal Census of 1860 lists him as a fairly wealthy farmer (planter) in the Sumter District. His 1870 obituary states that he served during the war as the Captain of a Company of Reserves, but there is no official record of that service.

$200.00

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